Young girls ‘promised to Agape cult members’

A woman has told a media conference her granddaughters, aged eight and six, were promised in marriage to members of the Agape Ministries cult.

This week police raided South Australian properties linked to Agape Ministries and found guns, high-powered ammunition and explosives they think may have been bound for the Pacific.

Lesley Baligod, who says she is the mother of a cult member, spoke at a media conference organised by independent Senator Nick Xenophon in Adelaide.

Ms Baligod says she is concerned for the safety of her two granddaughters.

“If they were successful getting to a remote island in Vanuatu, a third-world county isolated from medical help in case of emergency, [then they would be in trouble],” she told reporters.

“These people believe you don’t need doctors or hospitals. [They believe] all you do is pray to God and you’re cured.”
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South Australia’s Families and Communities Minister Jennifer Rankine said her department was keeping a close eye on members of the Agape group.

Ms Rankine said she was aware of allegations that at least two children had been promised in marriage to older followers but there was no evidence of this and no indication the children were being mistreated.

Ms Baligod said her son became involved with Agape Ministries 17 years ago and the group had tried to recruit her other children.

“He’s buried himself in that church,” she said.

“You cannot argue with anybody who is completely brainwashed into a religious cult.

“If you try to say something, their eyes glaze over and they start praying in their head.”

South Australia’s Families and Communities Minister, Jennifer Rankine, says her department is keeping a close eye on members of the Agape group.

Ms Rankine says she is aware of complaints that at least two children had been promised in marriage to older followers.
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